11 

 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



The Staten Island Bird Club held its first autumn meeting 

 at the Museum on the afternoon of October 11th. The unusually 

 large number of members and guests (forty in all) present at this 

 regular meeting may no doubt be attributed to the illustrated lec- 

 ture entitled " Glimpses of Wild Birds " which was delivered by 

 Mr. Beecher S. Bowdish, Secretary of the New Jersey Audubon 

 Society. 



The members voted to continue the feeding of winter birds 

 in the Moravian Cemetery Sanctuary during the coming season 

 on a larger scale than heretofore — the question as to purchase of 

 food supplies being placed in the hands of the Committee on Ways 

 of Attracting Birds. 



The Club at present has a membership of over two hun- 

 dred, but it is hoped to increase it a hundred per cent, in the next 

 two years. Any resident of Staten Island who is in sympathy 

 with the work and objects of the Club may become a regular 

 member by remitting the annual fee of fifty cents to Mr. Howard 

 H. Cleaves, Secretary-Treasurer, Public Museum, New Brighton, 

 N. Y. H . h. c. 



Members who are interested in aquatic life will find an at- 

 tractive exhibit in the local fauna aquarium. Several pollywogs 

 in various stages of development from the young water-breathing 

 forms to the mature air-breathing frogs may now be seen ; also 

 several specimens of the crimson-spotted newt or triton, Diemic- 

 tylus viridescens ; a sun-fish, Lepomis gibbosus ; and pond snails, 

 Lymnaea sp. For most of the specimens we are indebted to Mr. 

 Raymond Morris, who collected them in Clove Lake and donated 

 them to the Museum. 



Through the courtesy of the author, Dr. William A. Mur- 

 rill, Assistant Director of the New York Botanical Garden, we 

 have recently received a wall chart on which is shown thirty of 

 the most common edible and seventeen of the most common poi- 

 sonous fungi (mushrooms and toadstools), all depicted natural 

 size and in their natural colors. A descriptive handbook accom- 

 panies the chart. These are displayed conspicuously in the 

 library, where they may be consulted by those who may wish 

 to identify any specimens collected. Several of the poisonous 

 species, however, may be seen to simulate very closely certain 

 of the edible ones, and it is always hazardous for anyone who is 

 not an expert mycologist to risk eating specimens in regard to 

 which there is any doubt as to correct identification. 



